The Gemini Effect Reviewed By Dr. Wesley Britton of Bookpleasures.com

Dr. Wesley Britton

Reviewer Dr. Wesley
Britton: Dr. Britton is the author of four non-fiction books on
espionage in literature and the media. Starting in fall 2015, his new
six-book science fiction series, The Beta-Earth Chronicles, debuted
via BearManor Media. For seven years, he was co-host of online
radio’s Dave White Presents where he contributed interviews with a
host of entertainment insiders. Before his retirement in 2016, Dr.
Britton taught English at Harrisburg Area Community College. Learn
more about Dr. Britton at hisWEBSITE

The opening pages of The
Gemini Effect signal that this is a story full of horror, the sort of
horror you will find when relentless mutant monsters are set loose on
a mostly defenseless American mid-West. The hordes of first
vampire/zombie rats, then affected humans, and finally killer birds
create a terror that simply never relents in an extremely fast-paced
thriller.

Chuck Grossart is very
descriptive of the rather implausible events (how could thousands of
killer creatures be created in such a short time period?), of the
military equipment and personnel, and of the scientists seeking a
solution to the expanding apocalypse.

He’s less successful
when he interjects a second plotline, of third-generation Soviet
sleeper agents with the power to immobilize the president of the
United States. It’s as if two books were squeezed together which
works on some levels, but the White House storyline is even more
implausible than the hordes of seemingly unstoppable monsters
transforming and replicating underground.

The author deserves major
kudos for his storytelling style which makes this novel a page-turner
that engages the reader for much of the novel. I admit, I never
understood why the creature’s quickly established weakness of being
unable to endure light was never developed into useable weapons and
the nation’s leaders resort to other devastating options to kill
the mutants. The final chapters are even more difficult to accept as
the entire globe erupts into various wars completely unrelated to the
American scourge. It would be unfair to describe the ending other
than to say much of what happens doesn’t make much sense,
considering the biological agent that accidently started it all
shouldn’t have the clout to do what it does.

Still, I recommend The
Gemini Effect for readers who like their reads fast and furious with
little in the way of character development. For the record, the
book is apparently a substantial revision of an earlier edition
titled The Mengele Effect, a title that actually makes more logical
sense. While the book seems to be a stand-alone effort, there are
threads left dangling for at least one possible sequel.